BRAY ALL YOU WANT TO BUT… 1

Posted on June 23, 2017 by

donkey

BRAY ALL YOU WANT TO BUT GOD WILL NOT BE MANIPULATED

I have told you all many times that I am a very “churchy” person.  I believe in the local church for education, worship, fellowship, and outreach.  Sometimes I tell funny stories.  They all go together for my love for the church.  I am not being ugly about church, but one cannot go there for 83 years without a range of experiences.  At least not in my background.  I must confess in recent years I don’t have the same kind of stories.  I’m glad I learned in the little church.

I’m making some observations today that will fit my theme.

1.  Once upon a time we had a preacher in our little church who lacked a few eggs in his egg crate. Kind man and all but… One night he decided he was going to preach until the glory came down. He preached, and preached, and preached, and …by one o’clock most everyone had gone home. My folks were left and what do you do? Walk out and leave him alone? No, but about 2:30 mother got tickled. So she laughed. Did you every start laughing at 2:30 a.m.? I have – with my sisters a couple of times; it is hard to stop! So she laughed some more, and more, and more. Preacher was delighted that the glory had come down! We finally left; he was still preaching.  Manipulation? It didn’t work.

2.  It won’t work with singing either. But I believe I have seen it tried. Now I like singing. I like lots of singing. I like it for praising; I like it for entertainment.  I like it for learning.  I like it for music’s sake. I think God likes it too, for lots of reasons.  But not to set the scene for the preacher.  An anointed preacher does not need to be motivated by a “warmed up” audience.  Neither the singing nor the preacher will manipulate God. 

3.   You have probably heard this advice; maybe even given it. “If you are praying for something, find a scripture to stand on, then stand on it!” You claim “God’s word will not return void” etc.

God has many more scriptures than the one you might “find” to stand on. Many people know Mark 11:23-24 about asking and receiving but not nearly as many cite John 15:7. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you can ask whatever you will and it will be given you.”

Claiming his promises but not fulfilling his conditions, is a giant manipulation maneuver. God will not moved!

Singing until the audience is warmed up will not manipulate God.

Preaching until the power falls will not manipulate God.

 

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A CREATION MYSTERY!

Posted on June 20, 2017 by

jellyfish in water

A wonder to see,

Jellyfish in deep darkness

A great mystery!

 

ronovan writes

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MR MOON

Posted on June 18, 2017 by

 

full moon

Oh, Mister Full Moon,

You know you’re only fake light

Coming from the Sun?

 

TJ’s Challenge    Haiku using full and only

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MY YOUNG FATHERS

Posted on June 18, 2017 by

dan and leeahjosh krissyluke mandy

Dear Friends, today I am introducing my

young fathers to you.

               Dan, my grandson, is a step-father to two boys.  For the love of Leeah, he became husband and step-father in one pledge of commitment forever.  He is a man worthy of the respect of his two boys, plus a girl who has been added since then to their instant family.  The picture gives a hint of their favorite pastime – camping or something else outdoors.  Dan has been step-father to a teen-ager who just graduated high school.  For that special time, he was able to complete legal work to give that son his own name – HAYES.  We are so proud of that.

                Josh, married to my granddaughter.  For the love of Krissy, he vowed to love and keep her and her two girls “until death do us part.”  He brought with him a daughter also, so they began with a blended family.  They have added two more daughters since then.  So he has the awesome duty and honor to be father to mine, yours, and ours.  I have the utmost admiration and appreciation for him as a “man fit to raise my little ones.”  That’s saying a lot!                

                 Luke, is married to another granddaughter, Mandy.  Luke is father to two more of my lovely grandchildren.  Luke’s penchant toward technology and movie making pay off for me in wonderful pictures of his precious girls.  He leads them into new adventure, mostly involving trips and exercise!  And he does beautiful pictures with Mandy as his model!  Thanks, Luke, for being a father in whom I have no fear for the well being of my precious little ones.  

Lord Jesus, I thank you so much today for these trustworthy men.  Men who take seriously their duties and obligations to see that their children have the material things they need.  Men who know the needs are much more than just material.  Men who keep family number one in their priorities.  Men who know that life consists of body, mind, and spirit.  Help them to sustain and progress in seeing that my babies (although growing up) have earthly and eternal needs met.  Thank you so much for the love they have for their wives, and for showing what marriage and family mean.  Be their support; be their provider; be their comfort; be their guide.  

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YOU CAN COUNT ON ME – UNLESS I’M ASLEEP

Posted on June 17, 2017 by

telephone

Husband drowsily answers, “OK, if you need me, call me.”

Me:  “Who was that?”

Husband:  “Carl, he said his car broke down.”

Me, frantically, “Where is he?”

Him: “In a bar. He walked there to make a phone call.”

Me, wildly mad:  “He called you.”        —– —–

Husband spent four nights in the doghouse!

******************

Challenge “blood curdling phone call”  in 52 words exactly.

#Writespiration

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ANCESTRAL FATHERS

Posted on June 17, 2017 by

campbells

 

I came to be by way of a little hanky panky back in the long ago, by way of the Moores, who are said to be offspring of the Campbells of the infamous traitorous treatment of them toward a neighboring Scottish clan – the MacDonalds, in 1692.  Sometime before that they were the well- respected clan from which the song “The Campbells are Coming” originated.  But wikipedia says they were not very welcome people – basically not to be trusted.  Interesting little bit of family lore.  

 

A couple hundred years later, some of them had developed into what I believe were civilized citizens of the USA.  From what I hear and believe, they were nice people! moores

As time went on, the Moore girl married a Riddle guy; a Riddle girl married a Rodgers guy.  And they begat me!

Ah, so much for family roots.  

Now to the part of my blog that matters!  We have become a culture that downplays and sometimes even decries, the advantages of a nuclear family.

About forty years ago I had a class in a very poor district of the city.  I had a class of 22 children, three of whom had a mother and father in the home; two of those were twins.  As I made mention of that to my student aide, her response was “What’s wrong with that?” I suppose I did not answer her. That is how easily we traditionalists and conservative people become intimidated!

But it was not coincidence the family units in that poverty area were so unstable.

 Most of those children are now grandparents!  How many of those girls might have married worthy men, honorable men?  Men able to support them financially, emotionally, and spiritually.  How many of those boys became husbands and fathers who cared for their wives and children and provided for them financially, emotionally, and spiritually?  A few did.  I heard about one from that school who went to the Naval Academy.  His daddy was quite proud of him!  Come to think of it, how much of his success was because of a daddy who stuck around, a daddy who cared!

A daddy who was present to be proud!

 

 

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A FATHER’S LAMENT

Posted on June 16, 2017 by

teen love 2

She’s my shining star;

He’s a blooming idiot.

A father’s lament!

 

 

Use words “star” and “bloom”   Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge

 

 

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TAKING CHILD TO JESUS

Posted on June 15, 2017 by
roger kingsley
“Welcome your wandering child back home,” will likely be good advice given from pulpits this Sunday, Father’s Day.  And it is a good one and it is scripture based on the story of the Prodigal Son.  This is tied to the love of God the Father.  Good sermon but mostly predictable by regular church goers.
Then there will be many giving practical rules for good fatherhood that makes sense but have very little to do with Jesus.
Also, there will be some that are impractical.  Good advice, but impossible to do for most fathers.  “Take your son on a camping trip and give him a chance to talk,” kind of thing.  Yeah, how do I do that working at minimum wage with one week off in July!
Many sermons will be good and full of common sense, but I fear short on Jesus.

So this is my Father’s Day sermon.  It’s early so you can preach it if you like!  😀

My unpreached sermon is taken from Mark 5:22-24 and Mark 9:17.  These two scriptures that show wonderful wisdom and love of two fathers, both of whom knew how to appeal to Jesus in behalf of their children.  In one the father took Jesus to his child; in the other the father took his child to Jesus. In both cases the answer lay in connecting to Jesus!

How to do that? Let me count the ways:

  1.  Love on your child – not just love your child.  Embrace, cuddle, wrestle, bear hug.
  2.  Teach respect for, love of, and practicality of the Bible. Use Bible stories in some  form: story telling, movies, songs, rhymes
  3. Pray aloud with and for the child.  Bring thanks and problems to Jesus.
  4. Teach Jesus stories.  Invite Jesus into your lives in a daily manner.  Give Jesus a pretend chair at you dinner table, place a chair in the bedroom where Jesus can sit to watch through the night, be creative in play and arguments about Jesus being present.  Ask Jesus what he thinks about whether you need to do homework, watch TV or play ball.

Even if you do not know the Bible well, make yourself acquainted with some principles that might be needed by a child from the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus said:

  1.  You are like salt and light.  Do good to/for people.  Make them happy.
  2.  Love your enemies.  Pray for people who hurt you.  Try to do good (Paul said “as much as possible…)  Your child will need to know he will not always be able to make peace.  Then avoid problem or leave it to you (father).
  3. Keep your word.  Never lie.
  4. Be generous.  Don’t brag about it.
  5. Don’t worry, you (daddy) give security as God’s helper.
  6. Don’t judge other people, or talk bad about them.  They can tell you (like grown ups can tell God)
  7. Make good plans.

Other Bible scriptures:

  1.  Jesus loves the little children
  2.  The two scriptures above that show Jesus love for children, plus Jarius’ daughter.
  3.  Your body is to be respected as a proper place for Jesus to live.  So avoid smoking, drinking, drugs, and things that give you bad thoughts (bad movies and computer games, etc).
  4. Husband loves his wife; therefore, the child will obey his/her mother and treat her with respect.

Remember that in our Bible models, the father was the instigator and he was there! He was present! You may sometimes assign the duty to someone else, but the real answer is in the three being together—father, child, and Jesus.

****************

Picture is mine.  My son and his grandson.

 

 

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ME TARGET AUDIENCE? YOU, OF COURSE!

Posted on June 13, 2017 by
blogger friends
(I’m enjoying reliving some of me Blogging U assignments from two years ago.
Hope you do to. )

So do I understand this fourth assignment right?  I am to decide and discuss who I am writing for—otherwise, who is my target audience?  Eeeezee!  I am writing for anyone younger than I!

‘Nough said!  But no, I’ll not stop.  Who ever heard of an eighty year plus woman who would give up her platform that easily?  Let me “sub-classify” some of my reasons.  By “sub-classify I mean “make a list.”

  1. I’ve got more to say than I can put on my tombstone. (Boy, would I like to stay on this topic for a while. I’d love to have it said of me, as was said of Enoch in the Bible.  “Oneta walked with God and God took her.” Now wouldn’t that be something.)
  2. I hope to show in my writing that life is wonderful—even past twenty-nine!
  3. I want to be remembered by my descendents for at least a full four generations.
  4. I want to pay tribute to wonderful people I have known, the wonderful country in which I live, the communities in which I have lived, the churches who have claimed me as their own, the God who sends shivers down my back when I really give him a portion of my time—well, maybe not shivers but tears flow easily in some of those most priceless times.
  5. I want to be funny now and then.
  6. I love words. Most of the ones I use are very simple and easy but I like to stir the pot a bit once in a while and say something like:  It is my sublime pleasure to utilize a unusually diverse vocabulary in order to energize your brain activity.  (I can’t find my thesaurus so I can’t play around much more than that!)
  7. I love picturesque speech. One of my favorite sentences was regarding Lot’s wife who became a silent stone statue standing still.
  8. When I die, I don’t want to be “dead and gone.” My precious offspring are going to have me longer than that!
  9. I want to leave them a hope – my hope – in the eternal. I want them to say, “No way did gramma’s spunk, faith, love, and teachings go to the grave with her.”

That’s it.  I’m climbing off the platform.  Would someone hand me my cane?  Just joking, I don’t need one.  Hey that gives me an idea of another thing I want to write about!

*************

(Today June 13, 2017 – Well there have been many days that I had to use the cane since then, even a wheelchair.  I guess my idea at that time was to write Cane Pain.  Some of you have read it, but if not or if you need another laugh, go see.)

image:  don’tpanicmom

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CONTRABAND

Posted on June 12, 2017 by

food

Sixty years she cooked for her meat-lovin’ man. Now heart-healthy diet only! Fruit ok’d by the rehab nurse.  Love found a way!

 

Challenge: Write a 140 character story about the picture prompt

https://katmyrman.com/2017/06/12/twittering-tale-34-12-june-2017/

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